Thursday, June 7, 2012

It's June, which means that those of you to the north are working on your vegetable gardens. And it means that I start thinking about whether I'll actually plant a garden this year. Here in South Florida, the growing season starts in August or September and extends through April or May.

I've tried many times before. I've planted in the ground - and the bugs ate everything. I've used containers, and the plants didn't get enough water. I tried making self-watering containers, and the bugs got into the stored water... Basically every time I've tried to garden, I've failed.

So I have a new idea: raised bed gardens. They have the advantage of not using the bug-infested native soil, but they'll probably hold moisture better than small containers.

I think the best option around here would be to make raised bed gardens out of concrete blocks. Wood would rot here, and I don't want to spend a lot of money on expensive plastic beds. I'm still not sure how I'll keep the bugs from eating everything, though. (Probably I should pay more attention to my plants and spray them with organic bug sprays, or garlic and pepper spray.)

But getting to my tip: to get ideas, I did image searches for concrete block raised bed gardens. I pinned my findings with Pinterest.

For more frugal tips, please go to my Linkup Parties page and check out the bloggers listed under Frugal Tips Linkups. There are lots of great ideas on each blog and I'm sure you'll find lots of wonderful tips

I like the idea of blocks because they are sturdy and have straight surfaces. You could have a lot of fun building different types of beds. My only concern would be about the blocks heating up the soil. I suppose if you didn't plant inside the blocks themselves, it would be okay.